Grit and Determination

[moonlight]

Day 141

Walked a mile with 30 lb backpack (35 minutes)

I'm going to start training for an overnight backpacking trip in late May. I haven't backpacked in about 10 years. I was about 40 pounds lighter then! I don't want to injure my knees so hopefully starting slow I'll be conditioned by May. We're planning to hike 7 miles each day.

B: nothing
L: potatoes and turnip cooked and mashed together with a little bean dip and kale, carrots, and onion boiled YUM!
snack: two veggies spring rolls
D: oven roasted potatoes, peas and butter beans with bbq sauce
late night snack: canned corn

[Ruff]

Ohh...fun overnight backpacking trip!

Every time I am in the hills I marvel at being there. During the obese years there was no way I could have walked (let alone run) in the mountains. And I sit up there and marvel at the view, and at the fact I am there at all. It makes all the hard puffing and aching legs getting there worth it. I still can’t believe I can actually do it! Thin privilege is a view from the top of a mountain

[Morris]

I envy you about the backpacking trip. I always wanted to do something like that. The closest I came to it was I drove to a state park and tent camped with my granddaughter

[moonlight]

Thanks Katie and Morris for dropping by. I loved backpacking years ago. To wake up outside in the woods with nobody around... it's nice. It felt good to put my pack on this morning. I hope I can build up enough strength in my legs to do it without injury.

[bunsofaluminum]

Oooh! backpacking! it's been a few decades for me. And you are smart to condition beforehand. The long walks, with a pack on. Seven miles is a LONG walk. But won't it be fun!

[moonlight]

Day 142

This morning I "backpacked" around my property for 1.7 miles in 45 minutes. I felt great! I have a lot of energy. I think it is the food! This evening I feel like I've worked out. I hope I can do 7 miles by May 18th with the backpack. Friday I have plans to do a 10 mile hike in the mountains. I won't be taking my backpack but it will be a good workout.

B: millet
L: black-eyed peas, bulgur, and a banana
afternoon snack: salad with sprouted lentils
D: potatoes and asparagus

[moonlight]

Day 144

Today I had plans to be hiking in the mountains but my hiking partner cancelled. Boo hiss! I may go this afternoon on a shorter hike by myself - using my 30lb backpack.

I bought some dark chocolate covered cherries and malted milk balls for my hike. I eat a little chocolate on a long hike. It's a treat. Last night I ate 3 of the malted milk balls! This morning I wrapped all the candy, put it in my food bag and put it in the back of the pantry. I really don't want to eat it unless I'm at least 5 miles from the trailhead! Argh!

Yesterday was up and down with regard to my diet. For lunch I met an old friend at a place of her choosing - it was her birthday. I had a po-boy with grilled tilapia, French fries, coleslaw, and hushpuppies. I bet that meal had more calories than I usually eat in a day. Plus all the fat!! Why did I do that?? There weren't many good options but I could have avoided a lot of the calories, I'm sure... On a positive note, I had dinner plans out with a friend, too. We went to a vegan friendly restaurant. I had a huge salad (vegan) and no salad dressing. The greens were fresh and good. It had a few olives but all other ingredients were MWL approved. Last night for a snack - like I really needed one! - I had some bulgar with nutritional yeast. Then of course had to sample the malted milk balls. I slept all night. I'm not sure if diet was related to sleeping all night. I've had some issues staying asleep recently.

I bought a mandoline recently on sale. I've wondered if I would use one. Would it be more hassel than I could justify. Well, I think I should have saved my money... my food processor slices and grates. The mandoline will slice longer items. It also has a julianne setting so I can slice potatoes or julianne carrots, etc. It has a waffle chips setting, as well. I tried the waffle setting and made some waffle potato chips and some steak fries for breakfast. I think the amount of time needed to slice using it, I could have sliced the potatoes using a cutting board and knife. Hopefully I'll find a use for it. A friend gave me her air fryer since she no longer used it. I tried it several times. I'm so glad I didn't buy one. I feel I like the oven roasting method for everything I've tried. I plan to take it to Goodwill.

Last night I saw the movie "Eating You Alive". A documentary about curing chronic disease with a WFPB diet. Dr. McD and Dr. Lisle are in it, along with several others from the WFPB community. I think it would be an effective presentation for people interested or open to the idea of changing their diet. It's mostly snippets of interviews with people who had success with WFPB diets to cure chronic health conditions. No one person is on the screen for long at a time - no long explanations of the diet or why it is important. At first I thought it was too much on snippets of interviews but in the end it tied all the stories together. I think for someone considering this way of eating or for a physicain who might be interested in learning about a WFPB diet for helping patients, it may be just the right balance. There are a few snippets of how animals are treated in feed lots. Very hard to watch without tears. That alone should be enough to change people's diets. I think when the movie is available on YouTube or on DVD it would be a good recommendation for a physician or friend/family member. I keep wondering how to help educate others. I realized that being a good example of being perfectly happy on a WFPB diet is probably the best message of all. If people are interested thay can ask questions. There is so much information to access thanks to all the people who have produced documentaries, written books, and support websites such as this one.

Today:
B: potatoes
L: large salad, bulgur, beans, and millet
snack: popcorn

[LadyM]

Hi Moonlight:

I so enjoy reading your journal. Hiking is a dream of mine, maybe one day. Just wanted to let you know that Eating You Alive is on youtube today. I just finished watching it. I don't know how to put a link to it on here (I am computer challenged). Search for Vegan Wolf and then the documentary should pop up.
Keep up the good work you are a great inspiration.

LadyM

[moonlight]

Thank you, LadyM! I just love this website! So much valuable information. It's been raining here today and my plans got cancelled so I've spent a lot of time watching WFPB diet related videos and reading discussions on this website. Here are my two favorite gems today from JeffN.

Regarding calorie density, which I didn't really understand until today, a great video of JeffN: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0CdwWli ... e=youtu.be

Here's the link to his thread on consistency on WFPB diet: viewtopic.php?f=22&t=44133#p542743
He says:

For the first 6 months to a year....

1) Simplicity

Keep this as simple as possible and resist every influence to make this complicated. You don't need 5 versions of oatmeal, and 15 dinners, and fancy pots, pans, utensils, etc. Just use what you already have and keep it simple. Oats, fruit, rice, beans, veggies. They don’t have to be organic, Non GMO, fair traded, imported, etc. Eat sweet potatoes, not imported Japanese Satsumas. They can be fresh, frozen, canned, etc, whichever makes it easiest. You just need oatmeal, brown rice (Starch), beans and a few veggies and fruits you like.

2) Focus

First, on this program

You invested a huge amount of money, time, effort and energy in Dr McDougall, his program and his staff. Trust your decision and the process. For the next 6 months to a year, if you have a question, ask Dr McDougall, Mary, Doug, Alec or me. We are all accessible. If you need a recipe, Mary has about 4000, if you have a question, most of them are answered in the forum or our hot topics. If you need reading material for support, we have a dozen books, 100's of newsletter and articles and videos going back about 30 years. Read the Hot Topics and this website and my forum and the Education material at the website and the FAQ here in my forum. When done, re-read them. If you need, email us, we are all responsive.

It is not that others WFPB Health Professionals are wrong, it is just that there are some slight differences between them all and you are just going to get confused. I would tell you the same thing if you picked one of the others but you are all here and made this choice. And, there are many WFPB "experts" that have little to no clinical and patient experience but you may not be able to know that about them. You are spending this week with a bona fide, licensed, credentialed professional team that each has over 25 years of direct clinical experience helping people. Get the most out of your investment.

Second, on yourself.

Until you have put the time in over the next few months and understood the program and been able to achieve and maintain your own success, keep the focus and attention on yourself. Do not worry about telling your spouse, your parents, your daughter in law, your cousins, your neighbor, your hairdresser, the local school, your church group, the food industry, the USDA, the FDA, the FTC, your doctor, the neighbors kid, etc etc or anyone else about the program or trying to get them to do it. Keep the focus on yourself, understanding and implementing the program and getting yourself well. We are not asking you to become a evangelist or preacher of this way of life or to try and convert anyone. We are only trying to help you take care of yourself.

This is not selfish, this is self-nurturing and right now, you need all your focus and attention on you.


3) Avoid the vegan trap

Fully explained in this thread...

When Vegan is not Enough
http://www.drmcdougall.com/forums/viewt ... 22&t=36550

As predicted, vegan is now a trend, and while this is a good thing for the animals and possibly the environment, for most of us, this is bad news as most of the vegan food in grocery stores and restaurants is not healthy. The Pleasure Trap appeal of this food is very very strong and hard to resist.

However, no one has ever come to the 10-Day program to save the animals or save the environment. They made the huge investment of time, money, energy and effort for one (and only one) main reason, their health is suffering. And, almost always, this is a major health issue and not a minor one. They come to my classes with the primary goal of learning how to address, treat and reverse their health issue through diet and lifestyle, not to be a vegan.

Don't mix them up.

[moonlight]

Day 145 (186 lbs)

30 minutes on water rower
2 hrs 'backpacking' around our field and woods (got in 2 miles at a slower pace)

My knees are good. I've got plenty of energy! I'm about ready to try my backpack in the mountains. Cool. I found morels growing on my property today. Double coolness.

Last couple of weeks my weight went up a pound and now is back at 186. I've had too many off times. Today I ate some mushrooms sautéed in butter. Yesterday I stayed compliant all day. I'm not sure why I decided I should eat a few mushrooms sautéed in butter ... it was a treat to find them growing on our property. My husband wanted to cook them that way. If I had been alone I would not have cooked them with butter. Hopefully it won't affect my weight loss. I'm sure it won't trigger cravings. I didn't really enjoy them cooked that way.

B: nothing
L: potatoes and big salad
snack: morels sauteed in butter.. just one time!
D: beans, chard, and bulgur
snack: popcorn
late late snack: 3 MMballs and pasta salad

[moonlight]

Day 146

Total disaster in the later afternoon and evening... Eating binge. As fijim has said :"Choices". They are mine to make. Instant gratification. I felt more in control than I have in the past about eating. I just decided to eat. In my eating binge I made better food choices than before, too. I went to a Mexican restaurant and had a couple of beers, a shrimp tosatada, chips, and beans and rice. (A better choice would have been water, no tostada, and corn tortillas) Later at home I had 2 slices of WW bread. The worst thing was I finished off the crazy malted milk balls that I bought for my hike, which got cancelled. There were 6. Those things are gone. (A better choice which I had considered was throwing them away but they were expensive) I won't make the mistake of buying them again - even for a hike. After I bought them I looked up the nutritional information, which I didn't pay attention to when I bought them. So high in fat. I was shocked. 5 pieces were 190 calories with 11 grams of fat! So, my thought process is that it takes several mistakes to get it, I won't ever be completely perfect with this diet. Thus, baby steps - learning something new which will grow into larger gains,,, the way I like to think about set backs. As far as setbacks go, they are much shorter in duration than before I committed to this diet. Thankfully, they are getting spaced further apart, I think. In addition, usually they are minor. This was the biggest "off plan" eating I've done in a while. I feel it is done and I won't have started a trend.

B: two slices WW bread and applesauce
L: big salad with bulgur and sprouted lentils
D: disasterous evening - way too many calories...

[moonlight]

Day 147 (190 lbs)

Wow, my weight went from 186 to 190 after my eating binge yesterday. Sodium plays a big role, I'm sure. My plan is to exercise, drink water, eat very healthy (typical MWL plan) and track how long it takes to get back to 186. The sad part is that the time it takes me to get back to 186 is time I could have been going down to 185 or 184. Choices... regret... reflection!!!! ACTION!!!!

2.8 miles 'backpacking' on my property (in 1 1/2 hours)

B: nothing
L: bulgur and lots of steamed veggies, and a sweet potato
snack: 2 Halo oranges
D: beans, bulgur, salsa, and big salad

[bunsofaluminum]

Hi there moonlight!

one of the great things about being aware is that you were AWARE of your eating, and saw the connection when the scale was up a bit.

But I wanted to comment on Jeff's advice about keeping it simple, that you have a few posts previous. That's a really good run-down of how to start and establish this plan, then move into long-term compliance.
It's one of my favorite comebacks when someone says it's expensive to eat this way. No, it really isn't. Even the most expensive grain, say quinoa, is not $6.99 a lb (the price of ground beef the last time I checked) and shopping in a regular grocery store along the produce aisle and a few dry goods like pasta and canned beans is not as expensive as shopping along the butcher aisle and dipping into the dairy case. No contest.

Keeping things simple really is the way to do it.

[moonlight]

Yes, Buns, I agree! When I stopped trying to cook all the recipes in the MWL book my life became much easier. I did learn quite a bit from the experience, and, in the beginning it was a good focus to keep me on the program. Now I can cook and have a meal very simply if I choose, or I can play with food, make spring rolls, or stuff new potatoes to make deviled egg substitutes for a party but every day, keep it simple. I've started eating more frozen food. I've never really done much of that - unless it was frozen produce from my vegetable garden.

Something has really shifted in me. I don't have that strong, almost uncontrollable, urge to eat cheese or bread or sweets. Now I just choose to do it, knowing I have to face the consequences. It's different.

I love those points that JeffN made: keep it simple, focus on yourself, and keep on the McD plan. 3 things. Don't worry about others, or about the minutia of nutrition or which exercise is best or buying the best organic food. The nutrition will be in place in the plan and just moving some (as the plan indicates) is enough. I love it! And, you are so right, the plan saves so much money!

It's just not as complicated as we make it out to be sometimes. The tough part is mental and everyone has to deal with that one in their own way. Mine is definitely inspired and supported by the people on this website and all the links to good educational lectures. I've really spent a lot of time reading and reflecting. When I screw up, reflecting and adjusting has worked. I think if I was extremely busy with life it would be much harder. Not impossible, but harder. We must focus, keep our sights on our goals to change our eating lifestyle. Unhealthy food is everywhere!

Cheers to keeping it simple!!

[Ruff]

Sorry to hear about the binge, but Way To Go On The Hiking! You are going to be so ready by the time comes. It is so much more fun to be the person taking in the view and waiting for the hindmost to catch up, than to be that poor soul, puffing and panting and above all worrying about holding everyone else up!

Simplicity! Oh yeah! I love to cook, but sometimes simple meals are just the best. I have been reading your journal whilst eating lunch. A bowl of mashed potatoes with a cup of homemade compliant baked beans (in freezer in 1 and 2 cup portions) poured over. So much yum! So simple!